TJ Shaw
|latest = }} TJ Shaw is a young man who befriended Rusty Beck and aided him in his quest to identify the murder victim known as Alice Herrera. History TJ is a young man who is described as being around twenty or twenty-one when Rusty Beck meets him. TJ lives with his parents and brothers and works in his dad's cell phone store. He is also gay but so deeply closeted that he hasn't even told his family nor has he ever gone out on a date with a guy. After starting his search for the true identity of the murder victim only known as Alice Herrera, Rusty started visiting cell phone stores, presumably for help with his attempts to use Alice's cell phone to identify her. Rusty eventually met TJ who was the only person interested in helping him. While Rusty believed TJ to be interested in Alice's story, Doctor Joe Bowman suggested that TJ's interest lay with Rusty himself, not Alice. In "Turn Down", TJ is able to locate an old social media picture of the library bulletin board with Alice's flyer in the background and sends it to Rusty. From it, Rusty is able to get Alice's cell phone number, but can't break her voicemail password. At his request, TJ looks up Alice's security question which he finds is Sister's Name with an answer of "Paloma." Thanks to TJ's information, Rusty is able to break Alice's password and gain access to her messages. In "Personal Effects", Rusty and TJ are hired by Lieutenant Louie Provenza to move his things into storage in secret. TJ inadvertently reveals the truth to Patrice Perry who is amused rather than angry, particularly with the way Rusty and TJ tried to cover up the mistake. Due to a lack of space, Rusty and TJ are forced to pile some of Provenza's things in Sharon Raydor's living room which she is not pleased with. During "Targets of Opportunity", TJ assists Rusty's efforts in finding out more about Gustavo Wallace, the man claiming to be Alice's brother. When their efforts turn up nothing, TJ pushes Rusty to get more information on Gustavo before meeting with him. Using the efforts to find the killers of two police officers, Rusty illegally performs a police background check and discovers that Gustavo has a criminal record, including an assault with a deadly weapon's charge. When Rusty insists on still meeting with Gustavo, TJ promises to be there to make sure his friend is alright. In "Hostage to Fortune", Rusty contacts TJ to meet him at a café that he has identified as the perfect place to meet with Gustavo. However, Rusty has been neglecting his friendship with TJ in favor of his Alice story and TJ had expected the call to be to hang out or to have coffee together. Having had enough, TJ promises to make sure that Rusty is safe during his meeting with Gustavo, but otherwise ends their friendship. Later, TJ sits at a table near Rusty at a discreet distance, but gives him the silent treatment while they wait for Gustavo. Gustavo, who prefers to go by Gus, eventually arrives and identifies Alice as his little sister Mariana Wallace. TJ watches closely as Gus shows Rusty his own abuse scars, proving Gus' innocence as Mariana's abuser. Seeing that Rusty is in no danger from Gus, TJ silently departs the restaurant without looking back. In his eighth post on Identity, Rusty thanks TJ for his help and acknowledges that he never would've been able to solve the mystery of Alice's true identity without him. Despite acknowledging to Sharon his mistake in his treatment of TJ, Rusty apparently never made up with TJ as he never appeared again. Trivia *TJ is indicated to have had a romantic interest in Rusty Beck. In "Snitch", when Rusty tells Doctor Joe Bowman about TJ, Doctor Joe suggests that TJ's desire to help came out of an interest in Rusty rather than Alice's story. While acknowledging TJ's sexuality, Rusty denied an interest in TJ in return. Rusty also denied a romantic interest in TJ to Sharon moments after Sharon met him in "Personal Effects". TJ's expectation of Rusty wanting to meet for coffee in "Hostage to Fortune" could also be taken as TJ expecting a date. A possible further indication is that despite TJ being so deeply closeted that not even his family who he lives and work with know, Rusty knew his sexuality in less than a month's time of knowing TJ. Rusty also knew the details of how closeted TJ was, meaning that TJ must've told him at least that much at some point shortly after their first meeting. **In a deleted scene for "Personal Effects" available on the season 4 DVD, both Patrice Perry and Sharon Raydor are indicated to have picked on the possible romantic connection between Rusty and TJ. Rusty states that Patrice practically asked them on a double date while Sharon brings up making a plan for having visitors spend the night at the condo after seeing Rusty and TJ together. Once again, Rusty gets defensive when the idea of a relationship between the two is brought up. *Given Rusty's statement to Doctor Joe, it is likely that Rusty, Sharon and Doctor Joe after Rusty told them are the only ones aware that TJ is gay. *TJ is one of three confirmed recurring characters on Major Crimes that are LGBT. The other two are Rusty Beck and Gustavo Wallace both of whom TJ shared a scene with. Appearances ''Major Crimes'' Season 4 # (over the Internet) # # # Category:Characters Category:Major Crimes Category:MC Season 4 Category:LGBT Characters